


Loyalty

by Moon_Raccoon_exe



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-14
Updated: 2017-06-14
Packaged: 2018-11-14 01:57:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11198064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moon_Raccoon_exe/pseuds/Moon_Raccoon_exe
Summary: This is a twin fiction to the one titled "The Best Brother-In-Law".I was requested to re-write it under the situation of Ignis running from an unwanted suitor that doesn't understand he's already happy with Gladio and doesn't want to change him.It's twin fiction up to the point Iris opens the doors in the original; there, the plot changes.





	Loyalty

**Author's Note:**

> This is a twin fiction to the one titled "The Best Brother-In-Law".
> 
> I was requested to re-write it under the situation of Ignis running from an unwanted suitor that doesn't understand he's already happy with Gladio and doesn't want to change him.
> 
> It's twin fiction up to the point Iris opens the doors in the original; there, the plot changes.

The meeting currently held at the council room was not treating any major subjects.

Indeed, it was not even about the council. It was not any formal reunion either. King Regis had asked his sworn shield and best friend of his life, Clarus Amicitia, for a small meeting of sorts to deal with minor subjects. There in the small and spontaneous meeting had Gladiolus been requested as well. The sworn shield of prince Noctis was there not only to learn from his father, as he would have to replace him one day when so the prince would have to rise as king, but also to, at some point that had yet not come in the conversation, inform both superiors about the development of the prince and his combat skills.

The three had come to sit at the chairs of the council; lately, King Regis had come to tire sooner than just the previous year. Understanding and wishing for the king not to pressure himself too hard, the three had decided to sit for some moments, the room empty at their exceptions.  
Despite the fact that they were not dealing with major issues, they, however, were not having a friendly conversation about the weather either. Royal matters, the Kingsglaives, the new glaive and his development, Regis’ power, prince Noctis’ development, the sort of things Regis would share only with his most intimate comrade, and with the son of the latter. So, even though it was a meeting of only three people, the air was still solemn, quiet, and serious.

Reason of why the prince Noctis’ adviser’s interruption was completely off and would be the subject keeping busy the head of the three men reunited in the room.

Ignis Scientia was not a man that could cause a scene of any sort. There could be a behemoth in the gardens, and the man would still take the time to knock on the door to ask if it was fine to come inside because he had a warning to deliver. He was a terribly serious man who could be poked with a stick for six hours straight and he would stand still in complete silence nonetheless. Somewhat cold, he was a difficult man to joke with: he had troubles understanding sarcasm at times, and some jokes went past him without him noticing, and he was as bad delivering them. It was only with his most intimate friends that he could get a honest laugh, but while he was on duty at the Citadel, he was dead like a stone.

That was why his attitude could not be explained at first, and caused the three men in the room to tense and get terribly confused.

In the middle of the meeting between the King, Clarus and Gladiolus, the double-doors flew open. The Amicitia, too trained into their jobs, stood up by mere reflex, pulling their shields out. King Regis made his way up on his feet as well, and the three stared as the invader was not an enemy, but the prince’s adviser. Ignis had not stopped at the doors, however: once having opened them, he ran inside. To the surprise of the three men in the room, he did not stop even when the table was already in front of him; Ignis, not saying anything, suddenly dived under the table, throwing himself to the ground and ahead. The three men, startled and not knowing what to do or how to react, looked up at the doors to see who was chasing him or what the matter was, but the door was already closing by itself with no one behind.

The three looked at the table, but the adviser did not crawl out of it in any moment. Clarus and Regis shared glances and did not know what to do. Clarus had yet not put his shield down; for Ignis to react like this, there had to be a very serious enemy outside, somewhere in the Citadel, and it was his duty to protect Regis with his life. Ignis would have never interrupted any of them, so the fact that he interrupted the three at the same time and in a hurried, messed way…something was very wrong. Expecting the worst, Clarus kept the shield up and the focus whole on the doors, like Regis.

Gladiolus, on his part, was first to react and he leaned down so he could get a look of the younger man, currently hiding underneath the table.  
“Babe, what are you doing?” Gladiolus asked him, worried and tensing.  
“I beg your silence, Gladio” Ignis told him in a screamed whisper. “Please do pretend I do not exist. Sit down, if you will, and please hurry your Majesty and mister Clarus to do so as well.”  
“What’s going on, Iggy?” Gladio insisted on him. “What’s-”  
“There is no time!” Ignis said loud enough for the three men to hear him, even though he stayed under the table, down on his ankles and looking as if though he was expecting his worst enemy to appear in any second. “I require all of you, if I may, to sit down and pretend nothing has happened. I am not here. I have not been here. Do act as if though I had never come here.”

“Ignis, what’s going on?” King Regis asked, trying to get a look from under the table as well, but not leaning down, only moving the head slightly to a side.  
“My honor is in danger!” Ignis said with hurry and completely serious, like always. “All of my pride is in danger. I must beg your silence, your Majesty!”

The three men shared confused glances, but they all agreed without the need of a word or a nod, and reached for their chairs to sit again. They tried to do as they were told and pretend nothing had happened, but they could not simply ignore this: Ignis, as reserved and cold as he was, had just broken into their meeting and had dived in underneath the table, begging for silence. There had to be something of incredible measures following him, something that-

Suddenly, the doors flew open again. Clarus and Gladiolus had tensed at first, but they calmed down and froze in the same second their eyes caught sight of Ignis’ most feared enemy, standing at the door.

“Your Majesty” man in formal clothing called from the door, not as a greeting but rather in surprise as if he had not expected to find people in the room. The man, tall and strong, with eyes like the sky and hair like gold, adjusted his tie on his neck, nervous but trying to dissimulate. “I apologize. I didn’t know you were holding a meeting.”  
“That’s okay, Auros” King Regis said with a little suspicion, not taking his eyes off the blond man at the door. “Is anything the matter?”  
“I was…I apologize again; I’m just looking…” as he spoke, the man turned to look at Gladiolus. The young Amicitia returned the gaze at him, raising the chin subtly and frowning. Auros gave him a subtle but noticeable derogatory last glance before his eyes returned to the king. “…for Ignis.”

Gladio’s hands became fists, but he did not make a sound.

“I see” Regis nodded, his hands coming up for his fingers to entwin together, and he gently rested his chin on them. “May I know the reason?”  
“I believe it is not wise to speak about it in these moments, your Majesty” the young man replied, never once looking in the way of the shields as if though they were not in the room. “But it’s all good intentions. Like always. I wanted to conversate with him about important issues, in privacy” the last word was delivered with a slight emphasis while his blue eyes moved to Gladiolus again. The latter offered no reaction but a slight twitch of his upper lip. “May I ask, my king, if it is possible that you may know where I could find him?”

“Well…” Regis looked down as if he was thinking, frowning a bit. He felt he accidentally tiptoed Ignis very softly, remembering about him underneath the table, right at their feet. “Have you tried on the rooftop? Sometimes Ignis gets very stressed and requires of some fresh air. I wouldn’t doubt he’s up there.”  
“The rooftop…” the blond man seemed to hesitate a bit. “It’s strange…while I was following him, he took this way, but…” Auros sighed softly and stood straight again, the chin up. “I’m very grateful, your Majesty. I will look for him in there.”  
“Do that, yes” Regis said softly with a small nod and a smile. He watched as the young man presented a reverence to him.  
“Your Majesty” he bid goodbye. Only then and only out of formality, he turned to look at the Amicitia. His blue eyes screamed for arrogance, but he bowed the head to them. “Mister Clarus” the shield of the king nodded back at him, uncomfortable. The blue eyes landed on Amicita son. There were a few seconds of silence. “Gladiolus.”

With that as a goodbye, the young man turned around and exited the room. The doors closed behind him and his steps could be heard for a few more seconds, fading. The three men stayed in total silence for some moments, confused. They had probably expected, out of the way Ignis panicked his way under the table, some daemon or a Niflheim spy or something of those measures. Turned out to be only an office worker of the Citadel, son of one of the women of the Council. 

After a couple moments, Gladio softly tiptoed Ignis.  
“He’s gone. Come out” the young shield called and, after a few moments, the adviser of the prince was crawling out from his hideout. Gladio offered a hand to him, and Ignis used it as support to come up on his feet, quietly thanking him. Amicitia son did not look at him, and there was a slight disgust on his expression. Ignis looked upset as well, and he started adjusting his clothes on himself. The older men looked at both in total silence, confused. After they shared a glance with one another, they looked at the young couple again.  
“You were running from Auros?” the king asked to the brown-haired, who kept his hands busy fixing his clothes. “What is the problem, Ignis?”

“I cannot allow him to find me” Ignis replied, before he seemed to remember he was in presence of the king. After a tiny flinch, he bowed to Regis like he had not just been at his feet for about seven minutes. “Your Majesty.”  
“May I know why?” Regis asked him, eyebrows slightly furrowed. Ignis stared away for a moment. His hands fidgeted a bit with his tie and he cleared his throat.   
“If he is to find me, my honor and pride are to be dirtied, your Majesty” Ignis explained to him.   
“I heard that, Ignis, but…I don’t understand why” Regis continued. “What does he want from you?”  
“That is the main and major problem, your Majesty” Ignis replied in a very slightly louder voice. “He insists on…” Ignis stopped and he seemed to be not only embarrassed but also upset. Gladiolus stared away as if he was not paying attention, and Regis looked at the upset couple. The king raised the eyebrows at the young adviser, encouraging him to continue. Ignis, still frowning, looked away again. “He insists on marriage.”

“Marriage!” Clarus half-questioned with surprise, his eyes widening a bit. Regis lifted the eyebrows again, sharing his friend’s confusion. Gladio groaned lowly. Ignis stood at his side, frowning. “Does he…does he not know you and Gladiolus…?”  
“That is the problem, mister Amicitia” Ignis told him, trying not to lose composure. “Auros knows very well that my status is that of taken, but that has not stopped him so far.”  
“On marriage” Regis repeated. “That’s a bit…rushed. Even if you were single, it would be very hurried. Come sit, Ignis. I insist.”  
The young adviser, with a sigh, pulled the chair that was besides Gladio out and he sat down. Gladio did not seem upset towards him, but his eyes did not dare look up at his boyfriend, and instead focused on his hands. 

Regis looked at them in silence some moments.  
“Auros wants to ask you to marry him” Regis stated. “I didn’t know he was after you in a romantic way.”  
“It has become a matter of concern, your Majesty” Ignis said, and Clarus blinked a bit while watching his son-in-law; for him to actually speak up about his problems, this had to have been happening to him for a very long while by now. With how much Ignis ignored himself, the adviser would have just bottled everything up; the fact that he was speaking, even when calm, could only mean the bottle had been so full it just exploded, and Ignis could not keep it any longer inside. “I have told him multiple times what I think and I have constantly asked him to stay away, but he insists” the adviser continued. 

Regis nodded. He seemed to be machinating something in his head.  
“And, what do your parents think?” Regis asked as if he already knew the answer and only expected a confirmation. Ignis seemed even more upset at that.  
“They believe he has a point” Ignis admitted bitterly, and Gladio’s hand, resting on the table, turned into a fist that he tried to dissimulate but Regis noticed. “Son to a Council member, they believe that if we were to become partners it would be a good alliance between his family and mine, and that it would position me in a point of vantage. I have reminded them that the Amicitia are part of the Council as well, but they say that, as shields, they are in constant danger, and the family could disappear one day. Which would put me in ‘disadvantage’.”  
“Well, that would be true” Regis said, and at those words, the three men turned to look at him as if though he had just said he would join the Empire and become slave to them only out of boredom. The king did not seem offended by the surprised looks. “Wouldn’t it?”

Everyone stayed quiet. Ignis looked at him almost with disappointment, shocked. There was silence and Ignis lowered the head some moments.  
“Of course it’s true” Ignis agreed and the shields turned to give him the same look than they had previously given to the king. “But it is not okay, your Majesty. If I may…it’s not okay.”  
“Why not?” Regis questioned him, and Ignis looked back up at him with more surprise. The King smiled at him. “He’s the perfect choice. Kind, formal, strong, handsome. He’s elegant and the exact definition of gentleman.”  
“Regis…” Clarus called in a whisper, looking at him without understanding. The king gave him a quick, reassuring glance that said he knew what he was doing.   
“Anyone else would brag that they have Auros chasing them; there should be no reason to believe your honor and pride would be dirtied; if anything, being chased by such a desired gentleman would be reason to lift your status” Regis said and gave the young couple a weird look. “Why is it wrong that he wants to convince you to choose him from over Gladiolus?”

The young couple both were looking at the king with eyes wide and the body frozen. For a moment they did not know how to react, and they shared a small glance. Gladio was the first to look down and away, and Ignis’ eyes returned to the king.  
“Why is it wrong?” Ignis started asking. He stayed quiet and the king did not take his eyes off him, expecting an answer. “With my most sincere apologies, your majesty…” Ignis chuckled bitterly, shaking the head slightly looking at nowhere before staring at the king again, firmly. “I am in a relationship. I have been in a relationship for a year, five months, and…” Ignis stopped only a few seconds to count. “…ten days. A year, five months and ten days. And I have enjoyed and _respected_ every single second of those.”  
As he spoke, Gladio subtly turned to look at him with unusual insecurity. Clarus blinked and looked at him as well. 

Ignis, frowning, continued.  
“From among the thousands of people he could have chosen, from among the thousands of people that are everyday at his feet and would die for a day with him, Gladiolus Amicitia chose _me_ ” Ignis stated. His eyes did not move off from Regis in one single moment, and he did not notice the way Gladio looked at him, as if it was the first time he ever did. “And I am aware I am not the perfect partner; I tend to not have time, I am not one for hugging or emotional demonstrations, and I am constantly pushing him off and rejecting him” the adviser continued. “I believe that ‘Gladiolus, no’ has become my most used phrase nowadays. But it is all into the joke spectrum; I do not wish to put him apart of me, like I do not wish to be put apart of him. The fact that I am constantly chiding him does not mean I dislike him or that I do not have affection for him.”

Clarus, with the mouth slightly parted, turned to look at Regis. The king, taking advantage that Ignis stared down some moments, gave him a quick and subtle glance and winked an eye at his shield. Amicitia father turned to look at Ignis again, currently quiet but processing ideas.  
“It may be flattering for anyone else to have Auros as a suitor” Ignis continued, and after that, he put his head up again to look at Regis, still frowning. “But not for me. I apologize, it is not flattering. It is insulting, disgusting and incorrect. I have a partner; I already made my choice a year and almost half ago. I do not care about who Auros is or what he can offer: he is not who I have chosen to love, and his mere interaction with me is an aggression to my respect for my relationship” he shook the head again as if in disbelief. “I can’t believe everything about marriage is alliances and council positions and titles and advantages; I could not care less who Auros is, who his mother is, or how marrying him could benefit me” Ignis raised a bit the voice, but it did not get to become a yell. “Even if he was Emperor, a King, even if he was a God I would still say no and I would still find his insistence as insulting, not flattering. I don’t care what position, lands, titles or benefits he could give me; I have chosen Gladiolus and Gladiolus has chosen me, and I regret not a single detail about it.”

Clarus blinked again, unable to take his eyes off Ignis; this was possibly the first time he ever heard him speak this much, and possibly the first time he ever saw him lose his composure and speak like that to anyone. Not to say he was lecturing _the king himself_.  
“Gladiolus is not perfect” Ignis said. “He annoys me at times and insists on making inappropriate jokes in front of his father. He doesn’t understand what I mean with ‘personal space’ and he won’t stop eating those bloody Cup Noodles in front of my nose despite how well he knows my opinion about them” it was a very stupid detail, which made Regis widen his smile. “But he loves me sincerely. He cares for me. He makes sure I’m healthy, that I make it home safely, that I am not struggling emotionally. He thanks me for everything nobody else ever does. He doesn’t say it, and despite how much I hate this fact, it’s clear in his eyes that he would gladly risk his life for me if I asked him to.”

Gladio stared away. He really had never said it, but it was not a lie either. The fact that Ignis could read him this easily was fantastic, but also a bit strange.  
“He may seem childish, but he really is not” Ignis argued. “The fact that he enjoys of his youth and has fun does not make him any less important than an unnerving and dry man like Auros. Gladiolus may not be the canonical definition of ‘Princely gentleman’, but he is one in his own way” the adviser stated very securely. “Gladiolus is a responsible, mature, strong man that fights and works hard every single second of his life to be the best in his duty in life; he is a joyful man that enjoys life, that knows how to treat me perfectly fine, that cares like no one else could do, and who knows what really is important in life” Ignis stopped for a moment only to recover a bit his breath. “I take all the pride of the world in my relationship because, while not for the eyes of the stablished canon, Gladiolus is perfect to my eyes, and that’s all that matters to me. He’s my biggest triumph; my greatest achievement. He’s my every day reminder that I am a winner in life. He’s my greatest reason of pride. Not my title, not my position. It is _him._ ”

At his words, Gladio’s eyes went to him and they stayed on Ignis the entire time. The adviser was not speaking as if though he was giving a sweet poem or confession; it was a statement which he delivered upset but with full honesty. Gladio stared at him for a long while before his eyes went down; he knew that Ignis valued him, but he had never known how much. Hearing Ignis say that sort of things aloud…it was new. And it made Gladio ache in the chest. In a very positive way, of course.

“Why is it wrong?” Ignis questioned again, clearly mad. “Because Auros is offering me a valuable treasure so long I give up my happiness” Ignis stood up from his chair. “My sincere apologies, your Majesty, but I am a selfish, egocentric man that will not trade his source of happiness and love for empty titles and my parents’ congratulations” having said that, Gladio turned to look at him again. This time, he found Ignis’ eyes hiding behind a barrier of tears, but the adviser let none of them escape him. “Now, if you excuse me, I have work to do, and I must lock my door not to let an obsessed, cold and unloving man that confuses a sick, disgusting Obsession with Love inside.”

“Ignis, stop” Regis requested before the adviser could even motion to turn around. The adviser, too mentally trained to disobey any order from his king, stood still, the breath heavy but slow, trying not to show it much. The king gestured to the chair, asking Ignis to sit again. The adviser took some moments, but he eventually sat down once more. Everybody stayed very quiet. Nobody said or did anything for a moment.   
After a while, Gladio moved his hand towards Ignis’ and gently took it. At the gesture, Ignis moved a hand up to clean one of his eyes from under his glasses, and used the other one to entwin his fingers with Gladiolus’. 

There was still some silence before Regis spoke again.  
“I apologize for upsetting you, Ignis” the king said softly. “But you’ve been bottling all of this for a year” the adviser looked up at him with some embarrassment. Regis nodded at him, understanding the glance. “I’ve noticed. You tried to hide it from everyone, but I noticed. I’m sorry if I angered you, but you needed to speak soon or you would explode, son.”  
Ignis stared away and his gaze went down. Now that the adrenaline of exploding into words had passed, he felt down in the dumps and a bit weak.   
“I wanted you to vent all those negative feelings out…I just wasn’t expecting to hear such pure, true feelings and confessions” Regis continued, looking softly at him.

Gladio looked at Ignis in silence and moved his free hand up to caress the adviser’s cheek, but the brown-haired did not turn to look at him and only kept the eyes down.   
“Gladiolus” Regis called. The young shield turned to look at him. “You have a wonderful human being that will never betray you. He’s been fighting Auros for longer than you know, and won’t give you up so long he breathes” he stated with caution. “I know you already do it but, please, do appreciate him with new eyes. You do not find a person with that kind of feelings around any corner.”  
Gladio looked at Regis for a few more moments in total silence. Eventually, he nodded softly, and he turned to look again at Ignis, sat at his side and still staring down. Gladio was still holding one of his hands, and he was still caressing Ignis’ cheek with the other. 

“Ignis” Regis called, and the adviser looked up at him. “I will speak to him and his mother. If he keeps bothering you, come to me. Stop trying to handle everything on your own; I will do what’s in my hands to aid you in this situation. You don’t need a suitor that doesn’t understand you’re loyal to Gladiolus.”  
Ignis nodded, quiet. The King watched both young men sat together, and he widened a smile.  
“Don’t be so upset” Regis said. “You should be celebrating. Be happy.”  
Gladio sighed with a wide smile, but his eyes teared up a bit. At the same time, he brought Ignis close to him, cupping his face very gently, and he pecked Ignis’ lips with his own. Immediately after that, he brought the adviser into a hug, which was returned. Ignis closed the eyes while in the hug, and none of the young men said anything.

Clarus smiled softly while watching them. Some moments like that, he turned to Regis, and found the King smiling at him. Regis looked at the young couple, back at Clarus, and nodded.  
Clarus smiled at him, not requiring of words, and nodded back. 

\--

“Everything in order, Iggy?”  
“Everything is in its right place” 

Gladio smiled up at his boyfriend with happiness, seeing the adviser smile back at him while going down the main stairs of the Citadel, in straight line towards him. The young Amicitia reached a hand up and, once close, Ignis gently accepted it and came down until he was on the first step, where he stopped, standing in front of his boyfriend and ending up being his height that way.   
“Shall we part?” the prince’s adviser asked with a little smile, and he saw the young shield nod at him. “Fine. I’ll-”  
“Iggy” Gladio interrupted him both in words and motions when Ignis had tried to take that last step down. The brown-haired stayed quiet and in his place and looked at the older man, who currently looked at him without his usual smile. “I need to tell you something.”  
“I’m all ears, Gladio” Ignis encouraged him.

The shield took a few moments. In silence, he held both of Ignis’ hands and moved them up, leaning down so he could press a small and shy kiss to their knuckles. He could feel his boyfriend’s surprise even before looking back up at him. Gladio swallowed and looked at him with seriousness.  
“Thank you” he said lowly but not in a whisper. Ignis looked at him with some confusion.  
“For driving you home?” the adviser asked. “You’re wel-”  
“Not that, you, ass” Gladio said with a small smile and the roll of his eyes. They stood quiet, only looking at each other. The shield contained a sigh that made his chest raise for a moment, and his eyes never moved off those of his boyfriend. “For…today. You know…all that you said back in my meeting with dad and king Regis. It’s…I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to really tell or show you how much it means to me. It’s too much and I’m awful with words. I-”

“Gladio” Ignis interrupted him, blinking back and the voice lower than usual, but not in a murmur just yet. “You don’t need to thank me. Respect and loyalty should be natural matters, not a bonus one should be grateful for.”  
“Exactly” Gladio nodded, the grip on Ignis’ hands tightening a bit. “That’s what they should be, but nowadays it’s strange to find someone who thinks like that. And that’s why…damn it, Ignis, today’s event just…it’s got me speechless, Iggy. All that you said, the mere fact of freaking _diving_ under the table _in front of the king_ -”  
“Astrals…do not remind me” Ignis said with a subtle blush, closing the eyes with embarrassment. Gladio laughed lowly at his reaction. “This has got to be the most disrespectful behavior I have presented to the king or… _and_ your father. I have been trying to not think about it, thank you for reminding me of it.”

Gladio laughed. Ignis smiled at him a couple of moments, and the silence returned.  
“Iggy, I just…you know” Gladio shook lightly the head, returning to seriousness. He looked down some moments and breathed, not letting go of his boyfriend’s hands. He sighed and looked back up at him. “Iggy…loyalty is a major subject to me. It’s the very base and the main column of the Amicitia family since it exists. There is _nothing_ more important to us than loyalty…not even strength. Not even courage. It’s loyalty, because the rest of those things can be born from it, but nothing except love can give birth to loyalty.”  
Ignis stayed quiet, serious and paying attention. His eyes were fixed in Gladio’s, and none of them stared away in any moment.   
“Ignis…I have never and would have never doubted of you, even if this hadn’t happened” Gladio continued. “But this, your sudden interruption at today’s meeting and all that you said afterwards…it showed me I was not only right about never doubting of you; it also showed me you’re far beyond everything and everyone else in the loyalty subject.”

Gladio took a step back, gently pulling from Ignis’ hands so the man left behind the last step, both now on the same ground level. Keeping his hands slightly up while still softly holding those of his boyfriend, Gladio looked down at him now that they were not the same height.  
“As loyalty is the code of my family…and with what you have showed not only me, but also king Regis and my dad…” Gladio murmured to him, even though it was audible and firm. He made sure to be looking deep into Ignis’ eyes before delivering his conclusion, “Ignis: you are an Amicitia to me.”

Both stayed quiet. Ignis’ eyes were slightly bigger than they really were, and they could suddenly not get away of Gladiolus. The shield stared back with warmth and as serious as he had never been before.

“I don’t care if we’re too young and only boyfriends” Gladio stated. “You’re already part of my family, Ignis. And I mean it. You’re a son to my dad, and a wonderful brother to Iris” the shield leaned closer and down, and he pressed a kiss to Ignis’ forehead, the softest he had delivered in a year and half of relationship so far. The sensation made the adviser’s cheeks give in to a very soft and subtle shade of red, and his heart fluttered inside his chest. When Gladio broke apart it was only to move a hand up that he used to softly caress the younger male’s cheek. “Ignis, I don’t know if the world will give me the honor to stay with you in a future, but, whether we stay together or not, just know that you’ll always be family to me” said that, Gladio moved the other hand up and he cupped the adviser’s face. He brought him close to kiss his forehead again. “Did you understand?”

When the shield looked down at the other, he found Ignis looking at him as if though they had just broken up. The adviser’s eyebrows were furrowed and his breath had come to be heavy and trembling. His eyes, while not watering, gleamed in a very thin, millimetric layer of lubrication. Gladio was not surprised at the reaction: the family subject was something very intimate and delicate for Ignis. He knew the kind of shock it could leave on the adviser, so he gave him his time to react.

Ignis did not say anything. Gladio, knowing him very well by then, knew that the most possible was that the adviser was scared that if he opened the mouth he would end up crying. Gladio found nothing wrong in tears, but Ignis hated to break down and did not often let himself do. As a response, Ignis only nodded and put the head down. Gladio, moved and serious, brought him into a hug, which Ignis returned very firmly.

Despite his glasses ruining it a bit, Ignis did not care about them and anyway buried his face in Gladio’s strong shoulder, eyes closed and heart breaking inside his chest, but in a very positive and wonderful way.  
They stayed in a tight, quiet and very intimate hug for long moments.

When they broke apart, they gifted a smile to each other, before leaning closer for a small kiss. With no words, both let go of each other and Ignis headed for his car, which Gladio had previously parked behind them. The shield had intended to go there as well, but he stayed at the bottom of the stairs when the golden man came out through the doors and stood at the top of the steps.  
Auros had come out a bit later from his office because he had been a bit busy; King Regis had called him to talk about…matters.   
Gladio noticed it just by the man’s expression that, despite dissimulating, screamed whole for ‘Defeat’ and ‘Humilliation’. 

After a couple of moments only staring at each other, Gladio could not help it and smirked up at the man. With some malice, Gladio moved his lips so the blond man could read them.  
 _Mine._  
“Gladio?” he heard Ignis’ voice call, and the shield only gifted a last glance at Auros before turning around. “Is everything-?”   
The shield turned and he found Ignis had found the source of Gladio’s delay. The adviser’s eyes only looked up at his suitor for a few seconds before they moved down to Gladio, and he silently asked his boyfriend to not pay attention and leave. The shield nodded at him and reached for the door.

Both opened their respective doors, but only Gladio got inside and shut it closed again. Ignis stayed on the outside, as if hesitating about something.  
“Everything in order, Iggy?” Gladio asked him from inside the car, and Ignis gave him a glance, a subtle smile, and then he stood straight again, looking back up at the blond man from his spot. Gladio leaned closer to him, confused and wanting to see what Ignis was doing.

Staring at Auros with a blank expression, Ignis moved a hand up, and he raised his middle finger.

Needless to say, Gladio’s jaw dropped at the same time he laughed quietly a few times, completely struck. Auros, on top of the staircase, widened the eyes and flinched as if though he had been a 19th century lady being told a dick joke. Ignis, on his part, put the head down and entered the car, closing the door behind himself.   
Gladio could not say anything. He sat on his place, jaw dropped, voice gone and eyes wide and full on Ignis. The adviser did not turn to look at him; he knew that if he did, he would burst into laughter, and he was too proud to do that.  
Instead, he moved a hand up without looking and pushed Gladio’s chin up to close his mouth, but the shield’s mouth part again, even if just slightly this time. His wide eyes stayed on Ignis.

“Let’s go” Ignis said casually and turned the engine on. He got no response, which made him laugh very quietly, and he was soon moving the car through the road.  
Gladio still stared at him in total surprise. In twenty two years of life, Ignis had never _once_ made such sign, not even as a joke, not even in privacy. He found it to be ‘too vulgar’. 

Gladio laid back onto his seat and hid his face behind his hands for most part of the journey; his boyfriend was a man full of surprises, and, Astrals, did he love Ignis so much.

The ride was mostly quiet and Ignis smiled through it. While driving, he remembered his boyfriend’s words. ‘You’re an Amicitia to me’, he had said.  
Ignis’ smile widened.  
 _One day_ , he thought.

**Author's Note:**

> I was not sure if the word 'suitor' is for males alone, and I didn't ask the requester whether he wanted that person to be male or female, so I went with a man.
> 
> I found no character to fill the role, so I just came up with one.
> 
> I hope it didn't disappoint you, dear anonymous requester. :)


End file.
